


old pine box

by comeseetheduck



Series: join us / giantverse [3]
Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Jealousy, Sleepovers, Trans Girl Marco Diaz, Trans Marco Diaz, accidental misgendering, other things prolly, seven minutes of heaven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-22 15:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13169361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comeseetheduck/pseuds/comeseetheduck
Summary: sometimes, people make poor life choices because of feelings. and sometimes, they can't stop doing it, ever.





	1. old

**Author's Note:**

> you may be confused about why this is set up like this. don't worry about it. just trying something out. it'll make sense at some point, or it won't.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marco gets in trouble.

**August 14, 2016.**

Marco is on the verge of tears.

"I know, I know, I know I was supposed to watch Star, and I know that I messed up, but you don't understand, it's-"

Angie interrupts. "We're aware that it's hard to keep up with that girl, but still. We expected more from you."

"Can't you see that I'm trying my best?"

Rafael sighs. "Marco, we can see that you're trying. It's just-"

"Just what? That I'm not good enough?"

"No, it's-" Angie looks over at Rafael. They'd never had this issue before with Marco before.

"It's just..."  Rafael looks Marco in the eye. "You're growing up. Soon you'll be a man, you need to start acting like-"

"No! No, _no, no, no, no!"_

Marco is screaming. Tears are running down her face.

"I'm never going to be a man, I never was, and I never fucking will-" 

and now she's sobbing on the floor as Angie and Rafael look at each other.

 

 

* * *

Uncharted territory.

* * *

  _over the falls_

_and into the brink_

_the metal breaks_

_as we slowly sink_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, who hasn't come out to their parents in a fit of blind rage and fury?


	2. pine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> huh, i wonder if that earlier bit will ever get resolved.... well, who cares about pent up feelings, let's have a sleepover, where nothing will go wrong at all!

**September 15, 2016.**

Janna Ordonia is never nervous.

"Jackie, I'm not nervous," she says nervously as Jackie sits on Marco's bed, watching her pace around the room.

"Sure, you're not nervous. You're just trying to burn a hole into Marco's carpet." Janna grabs a pillow from Marco's bed and throws it at Jackie, who's rolling her eyes at her during this very clearly serious situation.

"No, I'm not nervous. I'm just going through every scenario that could happen to see whether or not I'm just doomed forever."

"You know," Jackie pauses to throw a pink pillow in Janna's direction, "if I didn't know you better, I would have thought that you'd be more into a doomed existence."

"Doom is great. Just not the existential emotional kind." She catches the pillow behind her back before throwing it back in Jackie's direction.

* * *

Microwaved popcorn isn't a difficult dish to make, but Marco won't let Star be in charge of it. Instead, her duty is to fill the bowls with the other snacks Marco had purchased earlier in the day.

Watching Marco stir the melted cheese on the stove, it's obvious that something was different. For the past month, Marco had been the least stressed that she could remember. Maybe it was dating Jackie that had done it; the bracelet made out of seashells hugged Marco's wrist, slightly spinning as the spoon made lazy loops around the pot.

She thought about asking, but why potentially ruin Marco's fun? It used to be rare to see Marco smiling in the morning, but now it had happened each morning for the past three days. Maybe it was just being able to have sleepovers again, or maybe-

"Is something up, Star?"

"What? Oh, nothing."

Marco looks at her with the face of a person that clearly doesn't believe what she's saying but is just going to roll with it, and Star sighs.

* * *

The movie is forgettable.

Janna looks over at Marco and Jackie, hands twisted into a knot, whispering secrets to each other and kissing as if she wasn't in the room. She'd gone through a lot with this group, but this feeling was new, at least with these people. Back in Catholic school, they would teach lessons about the fruits of the spirit and what not, and while she tended to scribble all over her notebook instead of paying attention to the nuns, the bit about how "jealousy is super bad or whatever" managed to stick in her mind.

Jackie looks at Marco as if she would die if she looked away. She wanted nothing more than to see somebody look at her like that. And the person that she wanted, right now, is three inches away, absent-mindedly chewing on her magic wand.

Almost makes a girl want to scream. Out loud.

"Alright, I'm officially bored of this movie," Janna loudly announces as she turns off the television. "Time to do something with more danger and excitement!"

Star perks up from her half-bored expression while Jackie pulls away from Marco, seeming at the very least interested. Marco, still holding on to Jackie's hand, seems skeptical. "And what were you thinking of, exactly?" Jackie asks, with a pointed look on her face. "Because the last time I was here, I learned some very interesting things. We could do /that/ again, or-"

"Jackie if you don't stop talking right now I will curse your entire family." Janna can feel the blush rushing up her face, but then also notices the way that Marco's shrinking. Maybe there's more happening than she thinks? "Anyways, I was thinking-" at this point she's full on glaring at Jackie smirking on the other side of the room- "that we could do a simple truth or dare kind of thing. We sit in a circle, spin a bottle, and then whoever the bottle lands on gets to give you a truth or a dare that you /have/ to do. We could spill our most embarrassing secrets-" the raised eyebrow immediately wipes the smirk off of Jackie's face- "or do something super dangerous."

"Ooh, that sounds like fun!" Star nearly shouts, spinning Janna in a circle. "What a great idea! Marco, Jackie, are you in?"

Jackie laughs. "I'm not scared of anything. Come on Marco, this is gonna be fun!"

"I'm really not sure about this..."

"Marco."

She gets close enough to Marco that the other two in the room can't hear them while they speak in whispers. She links her arms behind Marco's neck.

"Marco, I've seen you fight fire breathing monsters. This is nothing."

"I know, but..."

"What's the matter? It's just us, Star, and Janna. You can trust us."

"Yeah, but... what if... _it_ comes up?"

"I'm not gonna out you, Marco, and I don't even think the other two have a clue yet. Even though I know they'll be fine with it, I'm going to let you do that on your own terms, okay? You are my smart, beautiful girlfriend, and a little game of truth and dare isn't gonna hurt you." She nods and then Jackie kisses her on the forehead.

"Alright. Maybe this will be fun."

* * *

 

The game lasts for twelve spins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> eheheheheheeheheheheheh


	3. box

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> marco, star, janna, and jackie play a party game! what could possibly go wrong?

* * *

_spin 3 / jackie’s first spin_

* * *

 The bottle lands on Janna. Jackie was afraid of this.

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth.” This is a calculated risk, because Janna could ask her about _the incident_ ¸ but who knows what inane thing Janna could have her do as a dare.

 “Is your mom _really_ a mermaid?”

The entire room seems to be thrown off by this question. Even Janna seems shocked by the amount of accusation that came with her words. Jackie pauses.

“Yes.” Deep breath. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Janna holds her hands up in surrender. “Okay, I believe you.”

Marco squeezes her hand.

* * *

  _spin 5 / marco's second spin_

* * *

The bottle lands on Star. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” Marco braces herself.

"Two words: magic makeover!"

_Ah, fuck._ She looks at Jackie with the best "I told you so" glare she could muster. "Okay, let's do this. How is this going to work?"

Star paused. "Okay, what you need to do is just... take off your hoodie, and then stand still while I magic you."

"Is this... safe?"

"I hope not!" Janna yells. Marco flips her off behind Star's back.

"It'll be fine, Janna," Star replies. "I've practiced this one. Oh, and Marco? Close your eyes." Star takes a deep breath, brings her hands together, and then shoots her arms towards Marco. "Magical Girl Transformation!"

A nearly blinding barrage of flower petals comes shooting out of Star's wand for a full ten seconds.

* * *

 

_(in the petals, marco swears that she sees a mouth moving,_

_hands reaching out with clothes sewn with magic, softly applying makeup to her face,_

_all the while whispering_

_“you are loved”)_

* * *

When the petals fade, Marco is nearly glowing with glitter. Her hair is tied back into pigtails. She’s wearing a sparkling knee length dress, gloves that wind up her forearms like ribbons, and thigh high tights. Her makeup is almost tasteful, with a simple lip gloss, an eyeshadow, and eyeliner wings that could murder somebody.

It’s all baby blue. Baby blue, and unbelievably soft.

Petals are still raining from the ceiling.

Star is the first person to say anything.

“I kind of expected it to be red.”

* * *

_spin 8 / janna’s second spin_

* * *

 The bottle lands on Marco.

“Truth or- “

“You do realize that I’m always going to say dare, right? I can take anything that you throw at me.” Janna leans back with an earned confidence in her abilities. Star, Marco, and Jackie didn’t know any of her real weaknesses, and therefore couldn’t challenge her to do something that would be difficult for her.

At least, they _probably_ couldn’t.

“Hmmmm… I dare you to do a backflip off Star’s bed.”

Janna smirks. Of course Marco would dare her to do this.

“Are you sure you’re not trying to see up my skirt, perv?” Marco is completely flabbergasted by the accusation, but Janna cuts off any kind of apology. “I’m just joking, _flower girl._ ”

The reaction to that joke was one that she wasn’t expecting. Marco looks almost scared. “W-what do you mean by that?”

Something’s up. Also, Jackie is staring daggers at her, so maybe she crossed a line somewhere that she doesn’t know about? Maybe she shouldn’t push it.

“Chill out, dude. I was just joking.” Marco and Jackie do not chill out.

As she got on Star’s bed, her back to the onlookers, Janna started going through every word that she said, trying to figure out why Jackie was glaring at her. Flower girl seemed like an obvious joke, with all of the flower petals, right? Maybe Jackie thought that she was implying that Marco was going to marry Star, but of all people Jackie would know that she wouldn’t make that kind of joke.

Whatever it was, all that she could hope is that Jackie didn’t try to get revenge in a future round.

She lands the backflip with proper superhero landing. When she lands, the petals still on the ground float in the air for dramatic effect.

* * *

_spin 10 / star’s third spin_

* * *

 The bottle lands on Jackie.

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Here’s a good one: what’s the coolest thing that you’ve blown up?”

“What makes you think that I’ve blown something up?”

“Star, that’s kind of your thing,” Marco adds. “It’s always blowing something up, or setting something on fire, or making a mess.”

“I do not make a mess!” Star yells out loud. Everyone looks around the room at the flower petals still all over the floor.

* * *

_spin 11 / jackie’s third spin_

* * *

 

The bottle lands on Janna.

“Truth.”

“Okay, Jackie. At that party- “

“Nope, nope, _nope,_ this is not happening. I refuse.”

“Which party?”

“Janna, are you talking about the most recent one we went to?”

“Of course, considering what happened- “

“Wait, what happened?”

“Star, you were the one in the pool! How did you not know what happened?”

“Janna, I am going to kill you.”

“Try me, Jackie.”

“Okay, I’m officially confused- “

“Star, basically you got drunk and jumped in the pool. It’s my fault for not staying with you.”

“Marco, how is it your fault? Wait, is that why you were grounded?”

“Yeah, I should have been- “

“But if you got in trouble, why didn’t I get in trouble?”

“I don’t know? I guess my parents kind of expected that from you- “

“What do you mean by _that?_ ”

“Star, we can talk about this later. Okay, you two,” Marco steps in between Jackie and Janna, who are bickering with each other, “let’s just get back to the game, and calm down.”

“Fine.” Jackie sits next to Marco, still glaring at Janna. “You’re next, Janna.”

* * *

_spin 12 / janna’s third spin_

* * *

 The bottle lands on Jackie.

“Do your worst.” Janna has no reason to be afraid, until Jackie gives her a grin that she’s never seen before.

“I dare you to do seven minutes of heaven with Star.”

Janna can feel the blood rushing to her face, and barely hears Star asking what exactly “seven minutes of heaven” is.

She’s barely listening as Star takes her hand and walks into a closet that she made out of magic, and then all the lights are out and she’s this close to Star, and for the first time in a while, she has no idea at all what she’s doing.

* * *

 Marco’s already cleaning up when the door closes.

“Marco, is everything okay?”

Marco sighs. “What happened between you two?”

“What?”

“Between you and Janna.” Marco puts down the broom. “I thought you two were friends, or at least, didn’t hate each other.”

“We don’t hate each other, it’s just…”

“Just what?”

“It’s just that we’ve been talking a lot and at the end there she decided to get revenge on me.”

“Revenge for what?”

“It’s a long story- “

“Wait, what did the party have to do with revenge?”

“Well… after the events of the party, we’ve been talking a lot about it.”

“So, it was about the kiss.”

“…yeah.”

Marco throws her hands up in frustration. “I thought we were past this.”

“Marco, it’s not easy to pretend that something never happened!”

“It’s been over a month!”

“Yeah but… I don’t know, I just can’t stop thinking about it!” Jackie tries desperately to look into Marco’s eyes, but Marco refuses to look at her. “I don’t know, I thought you might understand, you _live_ with her, you do all this dimension hopping with her, she’s just- “

“Yeah. No, I get it.” And with that, Marco goes towards the door.

“Marco, wait- “

“No, I mean, I get it. You like her because she’s cool and magic and amazing and everything. I can’t compete with her and I know it.”

“Marco, please, look at me.”

Marco turns around and Jackie can see how her mascara is beginning to run.

“I’ve just got to figure things out. I’m sorry. Give me some time, please?”

Marco wipes at her eyes. “Okay. See you around.”

The door closes and Jackie sits in the empty room, wondering if she’s just made a huge mistake.

* * *

 The walls of the closet are surprisingly thin. Star and Janna hear everything.

About a half minute after the door closes in Star’s room, Janna hears Star begin to start crying.

“Star?”

“Maybe I should leave.”

“Why?”

Star’s almost curled up into a ball at this point. “I came to Earth so that I could be more responsible, and what have I done? I’m just the girl that wrecks things here! Oh, Star blew up something again! Oh, Star’s silly emotions made it so that the two people that she liked are angry at each other! Oh, Star’s so dangerous that Marco’s parents want him to be responsible for me! Oh, look Star did something again and now Marco’s in trouble because they expect him to keep _me_ under control!”

“Star, no, _please_ don’t leave again.”

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t- “

“Star, I’m in love with you!”

Janna did not expect to say that out loud.

“Janna, I- “

Janna opens the closet door, and starts running. She doesn’t stop running until she’s at the front steps of her house.

* * *

  **September 16, 2016.**

“….hello?”

“Hey Marco.”

“Hey.”

“….how are you?”

“Janna, it’s three in the morning.”

“Yeah.”

“Uh… I’m sorry about everything that happened at the sleepover. I was being selfish because I had a crush on Star and was kind of jealous of you and Jackie.”

“I’m trans.”

“…”

“Janna, are you still there?”

“…yeah.”

“Janna, say something.”

“…I called you a dude at the party.”

“It happens.”

“Sorry about that, too.”

“It’s okay.”

“So…uh, has Star talked to you yet? Or Jackie?”

“No, I basically fell asleep immediately after the party.”

“Tell me you at least took the dress off.”

_“It’s really comfortable, okay?”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a very experimental piece, and there's no way to know whether or not the experiment worked or not, so.... yay? 
> 
> inspiration taken from the they might be giants song Old Pine Box, if you weren't able to guess.  
> in the last chapter of this I listed a bunch of things that I listened to when I was writing this, but this one has been over such a long period of time I can't remember everything that I listened to while writing it so here are some random music reccomendations:  
> the P.O.S. album We Don't Even Live Here  
> the Open Mike Eagle album Brick Body Kids Still Daydream  
> I've gotten really into AJJ, specifically The Bible 2. and the rest of it, but that album kind of rips a lot.  
> the opening of the Converge album You Fail Me, specifically the re-mastered version  
> the Shugo Tokumaru album TOSS. it's nuts
> 
> to be honest, this didn't end the way that i expected it to end either


End file.
